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Time and space are not
homogeneous.
In the life of every
civilization, every country,
every nation and every person
there are special places and
special points of time -
unusually important, crucial
points.
In my life this special moment,
which I'll never forget,
happened in Moscow, Russia, in
the spring of 1992,
right after the fall of
Communism.
I came back to my native town after
17 years of forced separation.
Moscow was in turmoil, so was I.
Allow me to introduce myself:
Alexander Greenberg.
That spring I was turning 50 -
time to gather stones.
And it just so happened that at
an International Congress on the
"structure of the universe"
was taking place in Moscow at
the moment.
I am an astrophysicist, so are
most of the people important for me.
My entire tiny little world was
getting together in the city of
my youth.
So I've decided to come to the
city to face my past
and to reevaluate my life.
At the point it seemed to be a
sound idea.
I was eager to reevaluate.
Reevaluate everything.
Not only my own life but also
life of all the other beings
populating our planet.
After lunch we will begin our
regular sessions, but right now,
before we take a break, we would
like to show you a short film.
This film is not a scientific
film,
but it does include some footage
of our space research,
as well as some visual
references
abstracted from the works of
numerous astrophysicists.
May we have the shades drawn,
please.
SASHA (VOICE-OVER):
Let me introduce to you the main
characters of our story.
That woman who keeps looking my
way is Helen.
She is my wife. Or, if you
prefer, ex-wife.
In any event, she is always
threatening to leave me.
I need a life. I need a real
life before I am too old.
What's so bad about our life?
You call this a life? Right!
SASHA (VOICE-OVER):
And sometimes she does leave,
for a time.
But it looks like she still
cares for me.
My drinking seems to worry her.
Well, she had never seen me
drinking so much before.
The creator of the film you are
about to see,
Jill Stratton, is with us today.
Do you see the beautiful lady
standing by the camera?
That is miss Stratton herself.
SASHA (VOICE-OVER):
"The beautiful lady standing by
the camera" is my lover, Jill.
Not that we're really lovers.
Not now, anyway.
Sasha, what's the matter? I
don't understand.
Don't you?
SASHA (VOICE-OVER):
And that is Natasha. In a way,
she is also my lover. Ex.
Go. Leave Russia. Your place is
out there.
What about you?
What about me?
SASHA (VOICE-OVER):
Even though we are very old friends,
our intimate relationship was
brief.
As for the past seventeen years,
we not only haven't seen each other,
but have not even corresponded.
But I didn't correspond with
anyone in Russia.
While the room is being engulfed
by darkness,
I would like to read a brief
passage from John Milton's
"Paradise Lost".
In this passage, the angel Raphael
is speaking to Adam and Eve.
SASHA (VOICE-OVER):
The imposing gentleman at the podium,
is my professor, Doctor Gross.
I have not seen Henrich Gross
for the past 17 years either.
"...To ask or search I blame
thee not;
for Heaven Is as the Book of God
before thee set,
Wherein to read his wondrous
works, and learn His seasons,
hours, or days, or months, or
years.
the rest from Man or Angel the
great Architect
Did wisely to conceal, to move
His laughter at their quaint
opinions wide Hereafter,
when they come to model Heaven,
And calculate the stars."
SASHA (VOICE-OVER):
I remember one of my last
meetings with Gross
before I left Russia.
Continue your cosmological
research for God, and make the
bomb - for Caesar.
SASHA (VOICE-OVER):
Well for the last seventeen years
both of us each in the country
of his choice
kept calculating the stars for
God and building bombs for the
Caesars of our choice.
In the past two decades,
a microscopic flash of time,
we have been able to reveal so
many